"^"^^P    '^S 


THE 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 


ADONIRAM     JUDSON 


LATE    MISSIONARY    TO    BURMAH 


A    COMMEMORATIVE    DISCOURSE 


DELIVERED     BEFORE    THE    AMERICAN     BAPTIST     MISSIONARY^ 
rNION,    IN    BOSTON,    :M  A  Y    15,    1851. 


WILLIAM      HAGUE 


PCBLISOED    BY   BEQUEST    OF    TOE    IXIO.V. 


(I 


(  ' 


BOSTON: 
GOULD  AND  LINCOLN, 

5  0     WASHINGTON     S  T  U  E  E  T  . 

1851. 


re^rererCrererf^rCrer^re! 


Columbia  ®nttJer^itp 

intljfCitpoflfttjgork 

LIBRARY 


THE 

LIFE   AND    CHARACTER 

OP 

ADONIRAM     JUDSON, 

LATE    MISSIONARY    TO    B  U  R  M  A II  ; 

A    COMMEMORATIVE    DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE    AMERICAN     BAPTIST     MISSIONARY 

UNION,    IN    BOSTON,    MAY    15,    ISJl. 

BY 

W  I  L  L  I  A  M      H  A  G  LI  E  . 

I'UBU.S:iKD    liV    llE(iLi:,ST    OF    THE    INION. 

BOSTON: 

GOULD      AND      LINCOLN, 

fia     WASHINGTON      STREET. 

;'■■  .'•;  i     iliS-^ii;.-.;  '.    ■' 

Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  3'Car  1S51,  bj' 

GOULD   Sf  LINCOLN, 

In  the  Clerk's  OlTice  of  the  District  Conrt  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


4-0-^aio 


PnixTFO  nv  Gko.  C.  Raxd,  0. Crta\iiifjv.'   T  *  *    J     J 


DISCOURSE. 


ACTS    XIII. 


Yon  David,  after  he  had  seuvkd  his  own  oexekation  by  riiii; 
WILL   ov   God,   fell   ox   SLEEr. 

Fathers  and  Bkiitiiren'  of  the  Missionary  Union  : 

The  year  that  has  passed  since  we, were  last  assembled 
has  been  marked  by  two  events,  to  each  of  which  belongs  the 
dignity  of  an  historical  era.  One  of  these  events  is  the  com- 
pletion of  the  half  century.  While  now,  as  from  a  "  mount 
of  vision,"  we  look  back  upon  the  scenes  which  it  has 
unfolded,  we  hail  with  joy  new  proofs  of  the  fulfilment  of 
those  promises  which  woke  the  lyres  of  ancient  prophets,  and 
catch  new  glimpses  of  a  profound  plan  for  the  redemption  of 
our  fallen  race  which  the  Almighty  is  urging  forward  to  a 
glorious  consummation.  Never  before,  within  as  brief  a 
period,  has  man  acquired  so  great  a  power  over  the  elements 
of  material  nature  ;  never  before  have  those  great  truths, 
which  are  the  germs  of  auspicious  changes  in  society  and 
government,  been  so  widely  spread  among  civilized  nations  ; 
and  never  before  has  Christianity  gained  such  substantial 
conquests  in  those  vast  eastern  realms  where  the  supersti- 
tions of  Boodh  and  Brahma  have  brooded,  for  so  many  cen- 
turies, over  the  minds  of  benighted  millions. 


LIFK    AND     CHARACTER    OF 


It  was  a  law  of  ancient  Israel,  that  every  fiftieth  year 
should  bo  hallowed  as  a  jnbilee;  and  surely  the  Christian 
Israel  has  never  had  more  fitting  occasion  than  that  which 
is  furnished  by  the  present  time,  to  lift  up  the  song  of  tri- 
umph and  of  hope.  At  Ihe  opening  of  this  period,  a  "dark- 
ness Ihat  might  be  felt"  covered  the  face  of  Europe;  the 
moral  eartJKpiake,  which  convidsed  France  to  its  centre, 
vibrated  Uiroughout  ('hristciulom  ;  the  old  world  was  rock- 
ing on  its  foundations,  ;\ud  ihv.  wisest  of  statesmen,  phi- 
losopiiers,  and  j)hihuithropists,  despaired  of  the  fortunes  of 
the  race.  But  amidst  those  scenes  of  portentous  gloom, 
the  Scripture  was  verified  which  saith,  "  Light  is  sown  for  the 
righteous;"  the  spirit  of  missionary  heroism  was  then  kin- 
dled afresh,  as  with  the  breath  of  the  Almighty  ;  the  churches 
of  Christ  were  then  rallying  for  a  concerted  onset  against  the 
powers  of  darkness  in  those  lands  where  their  sway  had  been 
undisputed;  the  small  beginnings  that  were  the  jeer  and 
mock  of  worldly  wisdom  have  thriven  into  an  enterpriser 
which  has  won  the  homage  of  the  world;  a  deep  presenti- 
ment of  defeat  has  struck  through  the  heart  of  heathenism, 
and  tiie  Christians  of  Europe  and  America  call  to  each  other 
in  joyous  songs,  that  celebrate  the  spreading  victories  of  the 
cross. 

The  otluT  event,  to  which  we  have  referred,  is  the  death 
of  that  distinguished  leader  of  the  missionary  enterprise, 
Adoniraim  .Iudson,  whose  eyes  were  closed  upon  the  sceiu's 
of  earth  on  April  12th  of  the  last  year,  while  on  a  voyage 
to  the  Isle  of  Rovn-l)on,  and  whose  mortal  remains  were  tlien 
consigned  by  friendly  hands  to  an  ocean  grave.  The  narra- 
tive of  his  career  forms  an  important  part  of  the  early  history 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  His  life  and  fortunes  are  identi- 
fied with  the  rise  and  progress  of  American  Christian  mis- 
sions. To  him  may  be  applied  the  words  of  God  respect- 
ing ihr  ])atriarch  Abraham — "I  called  him  alone,  and 
blessed  and  increased  him."  As  soon  as  he  had  welcomed 
to  his  heart  the  ([uickening  hopes  which  Christianity  inspires, 
he   desired  to  impart    them   to   the    perishing  heathen  ;    his 


ADONIUAM     JUDSON,     D.    D. 


desires  were  soon  ripened  into  :i  heroic  pnrjiose  ;  jind,  havinii^ 
■)crn  blessed  with  talents  eminently  practical,  he  immediately 
concerted  measures  for  carry ini^  that  purpose  into  ("Hect. 
The  prosecution  of  those  measures  was  steadily  carried  for- 
ward throuirh  forty  successive  years;  and  then,  havincf  "  scrv(>d 
his  generation  by  the  will  of  God,  he  fell  on  sleep."  His 
works  live  after  him.  He  has  left  a  fragrant  name,  and  his 
biography  is  to  us  a  priceless  heritage.  His  life  is  an  epoch 
from  wiiich  a  new  missionary  era  is  to  be  reckoned.  Eighteen 
centuries  ago,  when  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  having 
heard  the  imploring  cry  of  the  Macedonian  suppliant,  "  Come 
and  help  us,"  embarked  from  the  shore  of  Troas  to  obey  that 
call  of  Heaven,  if  a  Livy  or  a  Virgil,  just  arrivcnl  from  the 
court  of  Augustus,  had  gazed  on  the  vessel  as  she  spread 
her  sails  to  cross  tli(^  /Egean  sea,  neither  of  them  would  have 
seen,  in  the  fact  l)ef()re  him,  any  thing  worthy  of  commemo- 
ration in  history  or  in  song,  although  we,  who  survey  tlu^ 
past  at  a  glance,  can  see,  in  that  event,  Christianity  passing 
over  from  Asia  into  Europe ;  so,  doubtless,  when  our  own 
Judson  first  left  these  shores  on  a  missionary  errand,  his  em- 
barkation suggested  nothing  to  the  worldly  poet  or  historian 
deserving  of  special  note,  but  to  our  retrospective  view  it 
exhibits  a  glorious  fact  in  human  history — Christianity  going 
forth  from  her  asylum  in  the  new  world,  to  react,  with  reno- 
vating energy,  on  the  old.  Yes;  we  see  that  Christianity, 
which  has  here  turned  the  wilderness  into  a  garden,  looking 
back  to  the  continent  whence  she  sprang,  and  moving  forth 
to  repair  the  ancient  wastes,  to  causi;  the  desolations  of  Asia 
to  rejoice  in  the-  bloom  and  freshness  of  a  new  spiritual  life 
from  on  high. 

Among  the  means  of  instruction  which  the  T)iviii(>  Spirit 
has  employed  in  the  sacred  Sc-riptures,  biography  holds  an 
important  place.  Of  true  history  it  has  been  well  said,  it 
is  "the  biogi-aphy  of  nations."  Tlx'rc  are,  too,  distinguished 
men,  whose  memoirs  embody  the  life  and  spirit  of  a  whole 
people,  or  of  a  particular  |)eriod.  Biographies  of  great  men 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes ;    the   first   eml)raeing   those 


6  I.  I  F  E     A  N  D     C  II  A  R  A  C  T  E  R     O  F 

who  truly  represent  the  sph'it  of  theh-  age ;  the  second  com- 
prising only  those  who  struggle  for  the  triumph  of  truth 
ag-ainst  their  age.  To  the  first  class  belong  the  biogi'aphies 
of  such  men  as  Peter  the  Hermit,  or  St.  Bernard,  at  whose 
beck  nations  rallied  to  engage  in  crusading  wars ;  the  biogra- 
phy of  Napoleon,  the  representative  of  martial  genius,  and 
the  idol  of  millions ;  the  life  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  whose 
words  and  deeds  embodied  the  prevailing  spirit  of  American 
democracy.  In  the  second  class  of  biogi*aphies  we  may 
properly  place  that  of  John  de  Wycliffe,  whose  course  on 
earth  was  a  contest  for  one  momentous  truth  —  the  suprem- 
acy of  God's  word  as  the  standard  of  faith  ;  that  of  Luther, 
and  of  Melancthon,  who  struggled  for  the  great  doctrine  of 
justification  by  a  living  faith,  instead  of  dead  ceremonies  ; 
that  of  Roger  Williams,  whose  commonwealth  embodied 
the  clear  conception  of  the  universal  right  of  man  to  religious 
liberty,  as  an  essential  element  of  Christianity.  This  latter 
class  of  men  do  not  represent  the  spirit  of  their  age,  or  the 
opinions  of  a  people  ;  they  are  prophets  of  the  future  ;  they  rep- 
resent ideas  which,  struggling  for  mastery,  become  the  prop- 
erty of  succeeding  times.  They  identify  their  fortunes  wiih 
the  success  of  a  principle ;  they  enshrine  in  their  hearts  some 
gi'cat  truth,  unwelcome  to  their  generation,  and  feel  themselves 
impelled  to  go  forth  as  its  heralds,  to  conquer  as  its  champions, 
or  die  as  its  martyrs.  Among  the  men  of  this  higher  order,  as 
far  as  the  elements  of  character  are  concerned,  Adoniram  Jud- 
son  holds  a  distinguished  place,  although  he  was  permitted  by 
the  benignity  of  Providence  to  share  the  fortunes  of  the  former 
class.  In  the  very  prime  of  his  manhood,  he  became  a  believer 
in  Christ;  and  then,  looking  abroad  over  the  face  of  the  earth, 
his  thoughts  were  engrossed  by  this  one  appalling  fact,  that 
the  majority  of  his  species  were  gi'oping  amidst  the  gloom  of 
paganism.  In  connection  with  this  fact,  he  meditated  deeply 
on  that  last  command  of  his  risen  Lord  which  made  the 
evangelization  of  the  human  race  the  gi-eat  life-work  of  his 
disciples.  At  once,  the  path  of  duty  shone  clearly  before 
him.     To  him  the  Awitten  mandate  was  a  call  from  Heaven, 


A  D  O  N  I  R  A  M     J  U  D  S  O  N  ,     D  , 


and  his  answer  to  it  was  as  devout  and  prompt  as  was  that 
of  the  converted  Saul  to  the  voice  which  addressed  him  from 
the  skies.  No  angel's  message,  no  vision  of  the  night,  no 
new  revelation,  was  needed  to  mark  out  his  course  ;  the 
wants  of  humanity  moved  his  sympathies ;  the  Great  Com- 
mission gained  the  homage  of  his  conscience ;  and  although 
the  drift  of  public  sentiment,  the  prevailing  opinions  of  the 
chm'ch,  and  the  counsels  of  human  wisdom,  supplied  no 
genial  encouragement,  it  was  enough  for  him  to  know  that 
he  was  treading  in  the  footsteps  of  inspued  apostles,  and 
walking  in  the  light  that  beamed  from  the  oracles  of  God. 

And  now,  we  who  are  assembled  here,  who  have  been  ac- 
customed from  year  to  year  to  observe  his  doings,  to  sympa- 
thize with  his  hopes  and  fears,  to  pray  for  his  success,  have 
met  as  moiuners  at  his  funeral.  We  say  one  to  another, 
"  A  great  man  is  fallen  in  Israel."  Although  he  lived  far  from 
us,  he  was  knit  to  our  hearts  by  subtle  ties  far  stronger  than 
those  of  family  or  kindred ;  although  Burmah  was  the  land  of 
his  adoption,  we  felt  that,  as  by  a  spiritual  presence,  he  lived 
amongst  us  —  that  his  form  and  countenance  were  as  familiar 
to  our  thoughts  as  if  he  had  belonged  to  our  own  household 
circle.  Nevertheless,  our  sorrow  for  his  loss  is  tempered  and 
elevated  by  the  joy  that  springs  from  remembering  what 
great  things  he  lived  to  accomplish ;  so  that,  instead  of  calling 
for  a  solemn  and  plaintive  dirge  to  express  the  emotions 
awakened  by  this  occasion,  we  would  rather  unite  in  a  song 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving  for  the  guardian  Providence  that 
so  long  watched  over  him,  for  the  extraordinary  gifts  with 
which  the  Divine  Spirit  enriched  him,  "for  the  good-will  of 
Him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush,  and  for  the  blessing  which  came 
upon  the  head  of  his  servant,  and  upon  the  top  of  the  head  of 
him  that  was  separated  from  his  brethren." 

Desirous  as  we  are,  at  this  time,  to  commemorate  the  ser- 
vices of  our  departed  missionary,  to  treasure  up  in  our 
hearts  the  spirit  of  his  great  example,  it  shall  be  our  aim, 
so  far  as  we  may  be  able  in  the  time  allotted  to  this  service, 
to  contemplate 


LIFE     AND     CHARACTER     OF 


THE    PROMINENT     POINTS     OF      HIS     HISTORY THE    CHARACTER 

AVHICH    IT    DEVELOPED AND    SEVERAL    LESSONS    WHICH    IT 

SUGGESTS. 

Adoniram  Judsoii  was  born  at  Maiden,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  this  city,  on  the  ninth  of  August,  1788.  He  was  the  son 
of  a  Congregational  clergyman,  and  was  favored,  of  course, 
in  the  days  of  his  boyhood,  with  the  means  of  religious 
knowledge.  His  early  youth,  however,  furnished  no  evidences 
of  true  piety ;  so  far  from  this,  when  he  was  graduated  at  Bro\vn 
University,  in  the  year  1807,  he  was  not  a  believer  in  Chris- 
tianity. If  not  an  avowed  Deist  of  any  particular  school,  he 
was  sceptical  as  to  the  reality  of  divine  revelation.  The 
first  impulse  of  his  mind  tow^ard  a  better  state  appears  to 
have  sprung  from  a  calm  conviction  of  the  folly  and  the  peril 
of  suspense  in  relation  to  a  subject  so  momentous,  on  the 
part  of  one  who  is  neglecting  the  means  of  investigation. 
On  this  account  he  devoted  himself  to  a  sober  inquiry  re- 
specting the  evidences  of  the  Christian  religion,  of  which  the 
result  was  a  thorough  change  of  his  opinions.  The  way  was 
thus  prepared  for  his  conversion,  by  which  we  mean  the  cor- 
dial submission  of  his  heart  to  the  teachings  of  the  gospel. 
This  happy  issue  did  not  follow  at  once.  While  lingering  in 
this  city,  he  happened,  one  day,  to  take  down  from  the  shelf 
of  a  private  library  a  volume,  which,  at  that  time,  was  a 
favorite  household  book  among  Christian  readers.  It  was 
"  Human  Nature  in  its  Fourfold  State,"  by  Thomas  Boston, 
a  minister  of  Ettrick,  in  Scotland.  The  work  was  perused 
by  young  Judson  with  profound  attention,  and  from  it  he 
derived  new  views  of  sin  and  of  redemption.  His  spiritual 
nature  was  now  agitated  to  its  very  depths,  and  in  this  state 
of  mind,  without  having  obtained  the  mental  peace  which 
he  craved,  he  sought  admission  to  the  Theological  Seminary 
at  Andover,  with  the  hope  of  receiving  that  knowledge  of 
the  truth  which  maketh  wise  unto  salvation.  He  was  not 
disappointed.     His  request  having  been  complied  with,  after 


ADOXIRAMJUDSON,     D.     D.  9 

a  short  period,  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  were  disclosed  to 
his  view  in  all  their  divine  simplicity,  and  the  gloom  of  scep- 
ticism gave  place  to  an  intelligent  and  joyous  faith. 

No  one  will  wonder  that  after  the  experience  of  so  great  a 
change,  he  should  have  wished  to  diffuse  the  light  which  he  had 
received,  even  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Another  book, 
that  now  came  in  his  way,  was  destined  to  exert  a  mighty 
influence  upon  his  life  and  character.  The  celebrated  dis- 
course of  Dr.  Buchanan,  entitled  "  The  Star  in  the  East," 
kindled  the  spark  of  Mr.  Judson's  missionary  zeal  into  a 
flame,  intense  and  unquenchable.  It  imparted  to  his  deep 
and  indefinite  longings  a  practical  aim,  and  seemed  like  the 
voice  of  God  summoning  him  to  his  field  of  action.  At 
such  a  bidding,  he  was  ready,  like  Abraham,  to  go  forth 
alone,  "  not  knowing  whither  "  he  might  be  led  ;  but  in  dis- 
closing his  views  to  others,  he  found  in  Samuel  J.  Mills, 
Samu^el  Nott,  and  Samuel  Newell,  congenial  spirits,  whom 
tlie  Head  of  the  Church  was  preparing  for  the  same  exalted 
destination. 

At  tliat  time  there  was  not  an  association  of  any  kind  on 
the  continent  of  America  to  which  these  young  men  could 
look  with  an  assurance  of  counsel  or  support.  The  churches 
of  this  country  had  been  planted  by  men  who  had  fled  as 
exiles  from  European  oppression,  and  their  minds  had  been 
engrossed  in  seeking  security  and  freedom  for  themselves. 
Some  efforts  had  been  made  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
Pagan  natives  in  their  immediate  neighborhood,  but  there 
had  been  no  attempt  to  penetrate  the  vast  realm  of  Heathen- 
ism on  the  Old  Continents,  and  there  was  but  a  dim  concep- 
tion of  the  enlarged,  aggressive  spirit  of  Christianity  which 
is  breathed  forth  in  the  words  of  "  the  Great  Commission." 
No  wonder  is  it,  then,  that  Mr.  Judson  resolved  to  seek  aid 
and  cooperation  across  the  Atlantic.  He  openetl  a  corre- 
spondence with  the  London  Missionary  Society,  received 
answers  of  encouragement,  and  was  invited  to  visit  England. 
Nevertheless,  a  memorial  in  behalf  of  himself,  and  his  youth- 
ful coadjutors,  was  addressed  to  the   Massachusetts  Associa- 


10  LIFE     AND     CHARACTER     OF 

tion,  at  Bradford,  in  June,  1810,  the  result  of  which  was  the 
formation  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions.  Under  their  dkection  he  sailed  for  Eng- 
land, in  the  year  1811,  in  order  to  arrange  a  plan  of  coopera- 
tion between  the  two  societies.  He  was  captured  by  a 
French  privateer,  was  imprisoned  at  Bayonne,  was  released 
on  parole,  obtained  an  imperial  passport,  and  proceeded  to 
London,  for  the  prosecution  of  his  errand.  We  have  reason 
to  rejoice  that  no  concert  of  action  was  effected  ;  that  the 
new  society  was  urged  to  pursue  an  independent  course,  and 
that  hence,  from  the  day  of  weak  beginnings  and  of  doubtful 
existence,  it  has  put  forth  an  influence  which  now  encircles 
the  globe  like  a  zone  of  light,  and  has  gathered  a  moral 
strength  by  which  it  shall  outlast  the  greatest  of  earthly 
empires. 

After  Mr.  Judson's  return  to  America,  he  solicited  an  ap- 
pointment from  the  Board,  which  met  at  Worcester,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1811,  having  fuUy  determined  that  if  his  request 
were  not  granted  he  would  enter  the  missionary  field  under 
the  patronage  of  the  London  society.  The  Board  was  im- 
pelled to  a  decisive  movement ;  and,  having  concluded  to 
attempt  a  mission  in  Burmah,  amidst  many  conflicting  hopes 
and  fears,  bestowed  appointments  on  Messrs.  Judson,  Newell, 
Nott,  and  Gordon  Hall.  It  was  a  deed  of  unpretending 
character,  but  never  to  be  forgotten ;  the  capital  link  in  a 
chain  of  grand  events  whose  memory  coming  ages  shall  "  not 
willingly  let  die." 

And  here,  om-  thoughts  natm-ally  revert  to  her  whose  name 
wiU  ever  awaken  the  most  refined  and  elevated  conceptions 
of  a  true  womanly  character,  and  of  a  sublime  moral  hero- 
ism. It  was  at  this  time  that  Ann  Hasseltine  identified  her 
earthly  fortunes  with  those  of  our  adventurous  missionary, 
and  by  her  own  footsteps  marked  out  that  pathway,  through 
an  untrodden  field  of  enterprise,  in  which  a  noble  company 
of  her  countrywomen  have  since  followed,  and  around  which 
they  have  shed  an  imperishable  lustre.  In  abandoning  the 
sweet  associations  of  a  New  England  home  which  domestic 


A  D  O  N  I  R  A  M     J  U  D  S  O  X  ,     D  .     D  .  11 

affections,  intellectual  culture,  and  refined  society,  had  in- 
^■ested  with  more  than  an  ordinary  charm,  in  order  to  carry 
the  blessings  of  the  gospel  to  a  distant  land,  to  a  sickly 
clime,  and  a  degraded  nation  of  idolaters,  she  did  not  follow 
at  the  beck  of  any  high  example,  nor  enjoy  a  gleam  of  light 
from  any  honored  precedent,  but,  like  the  companion  of  her 
covenant,  pursued  her  course  over  a  trackless  waste,  guided 
by  faith  alone  ;  "  endured  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible," 
assured  that  his  providence  would  go  before  them  as  a  pillar 
of  cloud  by  day  and  of  fire  by  night.  And  so  it  was. 
Although  in  the  view  of  a  cool  worldly  prudence  she  appeared 
only  as  the  victim  of  a  poetical  illusion,  the  sport  of  a  wild 
spirit  of  religious  romance,  the  history  of  her  life  has  proved 
that  she  had  formed  a  just  conception  of  the  work  which  she 
undertook  —  of  the  means  suited  to  its  accomplishment ; 
that  she  was  animated  not  only  by  a  lofty  enthusiasm,  but 
also  by  a  true  practical  wisdom,  whose  combined  forces  urged 
her  forward  in  her  career,  with  an  ardent  energy  "  which  the 
natm-e  of  the  human  mind  forbade  to  be  more,"  and  which 
the  dignity  of  the  object  "  forbade  to  be  less."  One  of  the 
finest  tributes  ever  paid  to  the  character  of  American 
females  has  been  drawn  forth  by  our  missionaries  from 
an  eminent  English  prelate,  the  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  who  has 
attested  his  high  estimation  of  their  virtues,  their  accomplish- 
ments, their  piety,  and  of  the  mighty  influence  which  they 
arc  exerting  on  the  moral  destinies  of  Asia.  They  form  an 
order  of  women  to  whom,  at  some  distant  day,  the  pen  of 
history  will  do  justice,  as  having  been  the  glory  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  :  and  at  the  head  of  that  order,  wTcathed  with 
unfading   honors,  will  stand  the  name  of    Ann  Hasseltine 

JUDSON. 

Soon  after  he  had  received  his  appointment,  IVIr.  Judson 
was  married  at  Bradford  on  liie  fifth  of  February,  1S12  ;  on 
the  sixteenth,  was  ordained  in  the  Tabernacle  Church  at 
Salem  ;  and  in  company  with  his  wife,  together  with  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Newell,  embarked  at  tliat  port  in  the  brig  Caravan, 
under  the  command  of  the  generous-hearted   Capt.   Heard, 


12  LIFE     AND     CHARACTER     OF 

on  the  nineteenth  of  the  same  month.  Their  voyage  was 
prosperous  ;  they  soon  became  naturalized  to  the  sea,  and 
were  able  to  employ  all  their  time  in  studious  preparation  for 
their  work.  The  cabin  of  the  Caravan  became  a  consecrated 
and  memorable  place,  and  may  be  properly  called  tlie^  cradle 
of  the  American  Baptist  missionary  enterprise.  There, 
amidst  much  devout  study  and  many  prayers,  occurred  that 
remarkable  change  in  ]VIr.  Judson's  opinions  as  to  the  consti- 
tution of  the  Christian  church,  which  brought  him  into  im- 
mediate connection  wdth  the  Baptists  of  this  country.  Going 
forth  from  his  native  land  to  rear  Christian  churches  where 
no  foundation  had  been  laid,  and  where  he  could  not  pro- 
ceed "in  another  man's  line  of  things  made  ready  to  his 
hand,"  it  seems  not  strange  that  he  should  have  sought 
light  from  the  oracles  of  God,  and  should  have  studied  with 
profound  attention  the  principles,  the  teachings,  and  the 
practices  of  the  inspired  apostles.  Expecting,  as  he  did,  to 
meet  at  Calcutta  the  venerated  Dr.  Carey,  and  Marshman, 
and  Ward,  the  pioneers  of  Christian  missions  in  India,  it  is 
not  wonderful  that  their  distinguishing  sentiments  should 
have  aiTested  his  attention.  What  he  regarded  as  apostolic 
baptism,  they  treated  as  an  innovation  of  later  times.  He 
had  been  charged  to  baptize  converted  heathen  and  all  their 
infant  offspring ;  they  would  administer  the  solemn  rite  of 
dedication  to  none  but  believers  on  a  professio)i  of  personal 
faith.  Accustomed  as  he  was  to  habits  of  independent 
thought,  revering  the  Scriptures,  too,  as  the  only  and  suf- 
ficient rule  of  faith,  we  do  not  wonder  that  he  resolved  to 
examine  these  questions  thoroughly,  and  to  follow  with  un- 
faltering step  whithersoever  Truth  should  lead  the  way.  His 
investigations  led  him  to  embrace  the  doctrines  which  we 
profess  ;  his  reasons  have  been  published  to  the  world,  and, 
whatsoever  may  be  thought  of  them,  none  can  doubt  that 
his  conduct  in  this  instance  illustrated  the  purity  of  his 
motives,  and  exemplified  that  lofty  conscientiousness  which 
is  an  essential  element  of  true  Christian  heroism. 

Mr.  Judson  and  his   company  arrived   at    Calcutta  on  the 


ADONIRAJM     JUDSON,     D.     D.  13 

eighteenth  of  June,  and  accepted  the  hospitalities  of  tlie 
missionaries  at  Serampore,  with  whom  they  entered  into 
friendly  dehberations  as  to  the  field  which  they  should  oc- 
cupy. Their  counsels,  however,  were  suddenly  embarrassed 
by  their  receiving  from  the  local  government  an  order  direct- 
ing them  to  return  immediately  to  the  United  States.  The 
East  India  Company,  a  body  of  merchants  which  had 
received  its  first  charter  of  incorporation  from  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, on  the  last  day  of  the  sixteenth  century,  had  gradually 
acquired  a  vast  territorial  influence,  and  was  now  holding  in 
its  hand  the  political  destinies  of  India.  Intent  only  on  the 
establishment  of  its  power,  it  was  jealous  of  the  humblest 
effort  to  diffiise  Christianity  among  the  native  population  ; 
and,  although  a  benign  Providence  has  rendered  its  prosperity 
subservient  to  the  progress  of  true  religion,  it  has  at  various 
times  committed  the  moral  errors  which  are  ever  incidental 
to  the  policies  of  men  whose  highest  law  of  action  is  derived 
from  the  oracles  of  Mammon,  and  who  honor  commerce  as 
the  supreme  interest  of  humanity. 

In  these  trying  circumstances,  our  missionaries  petitioned 
the  government  to  modify  its  order  so  as  to  allow  them  to 
go  to  the  Isle  of  France,  which  is  often  called  by  its  older 
Dutch  name,  Maiu-itius  ;  an  island  of  almost  circular  form 
in  the  Indian  sea,  somewhat  less  than  fifty  miles  in  diam- 
eter, and  inhabited  chiefly  by  the  descendants  of  old  French 
families.  It  had  lately  fallen  into  the  possession  of  England  ; 
but  at  the  period  of  which  we  speak  the  English  claim  to  it 
had  not  been  confirmed,  as  it  was  afterward,  by  a  treaty 
with  the  government  of  France.  Here  it  was  that  the  little 
group  of  persecuted  missionaries,  after  many  perils,  and 
many  interpositions  of  a  guardian  Providence,  found  their 
first  field  of  labor  in  the  eastern  world.  The  island  arose 
before  their  view  in  the  "great  wide  sea"  as  a  welcome 
refuge,  like  that  hillock,  in  a  wider  waste  of  waters,  where  llie 
wandering  dove  of  Noah  rested  "the  sole  of  her  foot"  and 
plucked  the  leaf  of  olive  which  was  a  presage  of  better 
days. 


14  LIFE     AND     CHARACTER     OF 

But  although  at  the  Isle  of  France  they  were  treated  with 
great  kindness,  although  they  were  ui-ged  to  make  it  a  per- 
manent residence,  and  received  a  promise  from  the  Governor 
that  he  would  befriend  and  patronize  the  mission,  yet  they 
could  not  regard  it  as  a  field  suited  to  their  wislies.  They 
desired  to  preach  Christ  to  pagans  who  had  never  heard  of 
hhn,  and  to  occupy  some  moral  centre  whence  the  light 
might  radiate  afar.  With  these  views,  IVIr.  and  Mrs.  Judson 
left  the  island,  which  had  become  associated  with  tender  recol- 
lections, especially  as  the  burial-place  of  Mi*s.  Harriet  Newell, 
who  fell  a  victim  to  the  incidental  hardships  of  her  voyage 
thither,  in  the  very  prime  and  bloom  of  her  life.  They  em- 
barked for  Madras  with  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  passage  to 
Pinang ;  but  as  Madras  is  the  seat  of  one  of  the  Presi- 
dencies of  Hindostan,  they  fled  from  it  in  haste,  driven  by 
the  fear  that  the  order  for  their  return  to  America  would  be 
renewed.  The  first  opportunity  of  escape  from  the  dreaded 
dominion  of  the  East  India  Company  was  furnished  by  an 
old  unseaworthy  vessel  bound  to  Rangoon  ;  in  this  they 
ventured,  and,  after  a  perilous  voyage  of  twenty-two  days, 
arrived  safely  at  this  chief  port  of  the  Burman  empire.  Thus 
were  they  led  in  a  mysterious  manner  to  the  land  of  then- 
original  destination  ;  all  friendly  counsels  and  all  hostile  op- 
positions were  rendered  alike  subservient  to  their  earliest 
wishes,  that  they  might  bear  the  light  of  truth  to  the  most 
deeply  necessitous,  and  raise  the  standard  of  the  cross  in 
some  chief  citadel  of  oriental  heathenism. 

The  American  missionaries,  having  taken  their  position 
beyond  the  bounds  of  British  India,  now  breathed  more 
freely ;  they  enjoyed  the  favor  of  the  Viceroy,  and  devoted 
their  whole  energy  to  the  acquisition  of  the  Burman  and 
Pali  languages.  In  the  course  of  the  following  year,  intense 
exertion  had  impaired  the  health  of  each  of  them ;  but 
neither  medical  skill,  nor  rest,  nor  change  of  air  and  scene, 
imparted  an  influence  so  balmy  and  reviving  as  did  the  intel- 
ligence received  from  this  country,  that  our  churches  had 
answered  to  their  appeals,  and  that  the  Baptist  General  Con- 


A  D  O  N  I  n  A  ?il     J  U  D  S  O  N  ,     D  .     D  .  15 

vention  for  missionary  purposes  had  been  formed  under 
auspicious  circumstances.  There  are  many  amongst  us  here 
who  remember  "what  a  genial  enthusiasm  was  awakened, 
from  Maine  to  Georgia,  ^vhen  Luther  Rice  returned  to  his 
native  land  to  aid  in  organizing  om'  missionary  operations. 
He,  too,  had  been  a  student  at  Andover,  had  joined  the  Jud- 
sons  in  Calcutta,  had  united  with  them  in  their  change  of 
sentiments  and  of  ecclesiastical  relations,  and  had  left  them 
in  the  Isle  of  France  on  this  new  mission  of  love  to  the 
Baptists  of  the  United  States.  His  labors  were  not  in  vain  ; 
he  was  hailed  with  a  universal  welcome,  and  in  recalling 
that  period  of  his  ministry,  he  had  reason  to  say  to  many  a 
chui'ch,  in  the  language  of  an  apostle,  "  Ye  received  me  even 
as  an  angel  of  God." 

The  reenforcement  of  the  Bm-man  mission,  three  years 
after  its  establishment,  gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  mind  of 
Mr.  Judson.  At  first,  when  he  had  found  himself  surrounded 
with  people  of  the  Mongolian  race  who  had  never  been 
touched,  as  yet,  by  the  slightest  influence  of  European  civili- 
zation, a  strange  gloom  invested  every  scene  ;  this,  however, 
was  gradually  dispelled  by  an  engTOssing  interest  in  his 
labors  and  by  indications  of  success.  The  arrival  of  Mr. 
Hough,  caiTying  with  him  a  printing  press  which  was  a  pres- 
ent from  Dr.  Carey  and  the  brethren  at  Serampore,  shed  new 
light  over  his  prospects.  It  is  difficult  for  us  adequately  to 
conceive  of  the  profound  delight  with  which  the  solitary 
preacher  at  Rangoon  hailed  the  accession  of  a  fellow-worker, 
and  also  of  that  mighty  instrumentality  of  which  he  was 
wont  to  say,  "  every  pull  of  the  press  sends  a  ray  of  light 
through  the  empke  of  darkness." 

From  that  time  Mr.  Judson  pursued  his  daily  work  with 
renovated  energy  under  the  inspiration  of  briglit<Miing  hopes. 
Judging  from  the  tone  and  spirit  of  his  letters,  "the  moun- 
tains and  the  hills  were  breaking  forth  before  him  into  sing- 
ing." He  had  favor  with  the  rulers  and  the  people.  A  spirit 
of  inquiry  was  spreading  itself  around  him.  Even  the  Em- 
peror, who  had  come  into  collision  with  the  priesthood,  liad 


16  LIFE     AND     CHARACTER     OF 

been  heard  to  ask  for  light  respecting  "  the  new  religion." 
Although  no  conversion  had  occurred,  yet  while  the  press 
was  pouring  forth  editions  of  tracts,  catechisms,  and  gospels, 
the  heart  of  the  missionary  was  elate  with  confidence.  It 
was  early  in  the  year  1817  that  he  first  heard  fr6m  the  lips 
of  a  Burman,  and  that,  too,  an  intelligent  and  respectable 
man,  the  acknowledgment  of  an  eternal  God.  "  I  cannot 
tell,"  said  he,  "  how  I  felt  at  that  moment."  This  first  gleam 
of  intellectual  conviction,  touching  the  great  error  of  Boodh- 
ism,  he  welcomed  as  the  harbinger  of  that  full  effluence  of 
light  which  is  yet  to  irradiate  the  moral  firmament  of  Burmah. 

In  spite  of  many  difficulties  arising  from  Mr.  Judson's  un- 
fortunate detention  while  absent  on  an  errand  to  Chittagong, 
and  also  from  the  recall  of  the  friendly  Viceroy  of  Rangoon 
by  the  court  of  Ava,  the  good  work  went  fonvard,  slowly,  but 
surely.  The  thirtieth  of  April,  1819,  became  memorable  in 
the  history  of  the  mission.  Until  then,  the  missionaries  had 
lived  in  comparative  seclusion,  and  had  put  forth  no  efforts  of 
a  public  character.  On  that  day  a  new  step  was  taken  involv- 
ing new  hazards.  A  zayat  was  opened  for  preaching  and 
worship.  There,  about  two  months  afterward,  a  small  assem- 
bly was  gathered  to  witness  the  reception  of  the  first  Burman 
convert  into  the  Christian  Church.  Moung  Nau,  a  man  who 
was  thirty-five  years  of  age,  openly  renounced  Boodhism, 
made  a  satisfactory  confession  of  his  faith  in  Christ,  then 
left  the  zayat,  proceeded  with  the  company  to  a  small  lake, 
on  whose  margin  stood  an  immense  image  of  Gaudama, 
and  there,  in  the  rite  of  baptism,  "witnessed  a  good  pro- 
fession." On  the  following  Sabbath,  the  fourth  of  July,  this 
first  Burman  disciple  received  the  Lord's  Supper,  which 
was  then,  for  the  first  time,  administered  in  two  languages. 
Moung  Nau  adorned  his  profession,  rendered  to  the  church 
much  valuable  service,  and  remained  faithful  unto  death. 

We  have  now  ti-aced  the  course  of  Dr.  Judson  from  the 
scenes  of  his  youth  to  those  of  his  riper  years;  from  the 
time  of  his  first  aspirations  after  a  missionary  life  to  the 
successful  establishment  of  the  mission  in  Bmmah.     The 


ADONIRAINI     JUDSON,     D.     D.  17 

subsequent  portion  of  his  history  is  more  crowded  with  stir- 
ring incidents,  with  vivid  contrasts,  with  narratives  of  daring 
and  endurance,  of  perils  and  escapes,  such  as  are  fit  materials 
for  an  epic  poem ;  but  that  part  wliich  has  passed  in  review 
before  us  discloses  most  clearly  his  principles  of  action,  his 
cherished  aims,  the  force  of  his  genius,  the  ruling  spirit  of 
his  life,  the  leading  qualities  of  his  mind  and  heart.  It  will 
be  sufficient  for  om*  purpose,  therefore,  to  glance  hastily  at 
the  course  of  events  from  the  period  which  we  have  reached 
to  the  close  of  his  earthly  career. 

Previous  to  the  opening  of  the  zayat  in  Rangoon,  two 
young  men  of  Boston  had  joined  the  mission.  These  were, 
IVIr.  Wheelock,  of  the  second  church,  under  the  pastoral  care 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Baldwin,  and  IVIr.  Colman,  of  the  third  church, 
under  the  care  of  Rev.  Dr.  Sharp.  Within  a  single  year,  Mr. 
Wheelock  fell  the  victim  of  a  fatal  disease.  Within  three 
years,  Mr.  Colman  followed  his  friend  to  the  tomb ;  but  in 
the  beginning  of  the  year  1820  he  was  Dr.  Judson's  com- 
panion to  the  imperial  com-t  at  Ava.  A  strong  impression 
prevailed  at  Rangoon  that  a  friendly  visit  to  the  Emperor 
might  incline  him  to  favor  the  new  religion  and  to  protect 
the  converts  from  persecution.  The  drift  of  events  during 
several  years  had  fostered  in  the  breasts  of  the  missionaries 
the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  this  result.  They  performed, 
therefore,  a  tedious  voyage  up  the  Irrawaddy  wdth  the  utmost 
cheerfulness,  and  their  elated  expectations  invested  all  the 
scenes  of  nature  with  an  aspect  of  beauty  and  loveliness. 
Nothing  that  ever  came  from  Dr.  Judson's  pen  was  written 
in  a  more  animated  style  than  were  the  pages  of  his  journal 
while  on  the  way  to  Ava.  But  when  the  visit  had  proved  to 
be  an  entire  failure,  when  the  Emperor  had  dashed  to  the 
ground  with  deep  disdain  the  printed  leaf  which  proclaimed 
an  eternal  God,  and  had  bidden  the  splendid  volumes  which 
they  offered  away  from  him,  their  spirits  sunk  to  a  depth 
corresponding  to  their  former  elevation,  and  they  were  for 
a  time  paralyzed  by  the  chill  of  disappointment.  Tiiey 
imagined  that  no  Burman  would  dare  avow  a  religion  which 


18  LIFE      AND      CHARACTER      OF 

"  the  golden  feet "  had  spurned,  that  further  labor  would  be 
wasted,  and  that  a  more  hopeful  field  must  be  sought.  One 
of  the  most  instructive  spectacles  in  the  history  of  missions 
occm-red  at  Rangoon,  when  the  Burman  disciples,  instead  of 
shrinking  from  the  company  of  the  missionaries,  as  it  was 
supposed  they  would  do,  rallied  around  them,  encouraged 
them,  pointed  out  the  brighter  aspects  of  the  enterprise,  and 
besought  them  with  tears  and  arguments  not  to  forsake  a 
post  to  which  God  himself  had  so  evidently  led  them.  The 
counsel  of  the  Burman  Christians  prevailed,  and  their  faith 
saved  the  station  from  abandonment.  This  was  "  after  the 
manner  of  God,"  Avho  honors  the  zeal  of  his  people  more 
than  the  patronage  of  kings,  and  was  in  analogy  with  the 
ways  of  Him  who  committed  the  destinies  of  his  cause  on 
earth  to  the  lowly  fishermen  of  Galilee,  but  who,  when 
invited  to  appear  at  the  court  of  Herod,  tm'ned  his  back  on 
majesty  and  left  the  royal  sinner  to  his  doom. 

The  following  year,  a  Christian  physician.  Dr.  Jonathan 
Price,  joined  the  mission.  He  visited  Ava  in  his  professional 
character,  and  was  favorably  received  by  the  Emperor.  This 
event  opened  the  way  for  Dr.  Judson  to  go  to  Ava  as  a 
missionary ;  and  when  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wade  arrived  at  Ran- 
goon, it  was  decided  that  they  should  remain  there,  and  that 
he  should  fix  his  residence  at  the  capital.  The  state  of  the 
mission  was  now  more  hopeful  than  ever.  On  all  sides  the 
signs  of  the  times  indicated  prosperity.  But  these  bright 
skies  were  soon  overcast  with  clouds  and  tempests.  For 
many  years  the  British  power  in  Hindostan  had  been 
making  constant  progress  amidst  the  storms  of  war,  and 
now  it  was  destined  to  establish  itself  in  Chin -India. 
When  it  became  evident  that  the  Burman  Emperor  was 
making  preparations  to  invade  Bengal,  it  was  resolved  to 
anticipate  the  blow;  and  an  army  of  ten  thousand  men, 
under  the  command  of  Sir  Archibald  Campbell,  attacked 
and  seized  Rangoon.  Messrs.  Hough  and  Wade,  then  re- 
siding at  that  station,  were  imprisoned  under  armed  keepers, 
who  had  been  charged  to  massacre  our  brethren  as  soon  as 


ADONIRAJM     JUDSON,     D.     D.  19 

the  first  shot  should  be  fired.  But  the  panic  created  by  that 
shot  was  so  intense  that  the  keepers  fled,  and  by  this  means 
alone  were  the  lives  of  the  prisoners  saved.  When  the  news 
of  that  deliverance  reached  this  country,  our  temples  re- 
sounded with  the  strains  of  thanksgiving,  chastened  and 
subdued,  however,  by  the  fearful  suspense  which  remained 
as  to  the  fate  of  our  friends  in  Ava!  For  two  years  that 
suspense  was  unbroken,  and  became  more  agonizing  by  the 
lapse  of  time.  At  last  the  welcome  news  arrived  that  the 
fives  of  the  missionaries  had  been  preserved.  But  who  can 
adequately  describe  the  profound  and  mingled  emotions 
which  SAA^elled  the  hearts  of  American  Christians,  the  smiles 
and  tears,  the  fervent  prayers  and  hymns  of  praise,  tokens 
of  sympathy  too  deep  for  words,  which  distinguished  our 
assemblies  at  that  period  when  the  revolting  scenes  at  Ava 
were  fully  disclosed  ?  Every  form  of  evil  which  the  most 
lively  imagination  had  suggested,  except  that  of  death  itself, 
had  been  bitterly  realized  by  Dr.  Judson  and  his  companions 
in  son-ow.  Loathsome  prisons,  galling  fetters,  famine,  tor- 
tmres,  barbarous  insults,  the  separation  of  husband  and  wife, 
the  confiscation  of  goods,  exhausting  sicknesses,  and  bloody 
tracks  of  lacerated  feet  over  burning  sands  —  these  are  the 
leading  features  that  mark  the  picture  of  missionary  life  in 
Burmah  during  the  progress  of  the  Engfish  war.  And  yet, 
amidst  the  peltings  of  the  storm,  these  Christian  martyrs 
could  encourage  each  other  to  calm  endurance ;  their  souls 
rose  superior  to  the  overhanging  clouds  charged  with  the 
elements  of  destruction,  like  those  birds  of  the  tropical  cfimes 
which  are  observed  to  soar  above  the  sweep  of  the  passing 
hurricane,  and  to  pour  forth  their  sweet  songs  in  the  serener 
regions  of  the  upper  atmosphere. 

A  tribute  of  honor  is  due  to  Sir  Archibald  Campbell  for 
his  generous  treatment  of  oiu*  missionaries  at  the  close  of 
the  war.  In  the  treaty  of  peace  which  followed,  he  de- 
manded their  surrender  at  the  hands  of  the  Burman  Emperor, 
who,  having  become  sensible  of  the  value  of  Dr.  Judson's  ser- 
vices as  a  translator  and  interpreter,  had  expressed  an  intention 


20  LIFE     AND     CHARACTER     OF 

to  retain  him.  The  English  General  not  only  welcomed  him  to 
the  hospitalities  of  his  camp  and  table,  but  presented  him  with 
an  eligible  site  of  land  for  a  missionary  station  at  Amherst, 
the  chosen  seat  of  the  English  Government  in  Burmah  ;  and 
afterward,  when  Mi-s.  Judson  died  and  was  buried  there,  he 
expressed  a  sense  of  her  extraordinary  worth,  and  his  sym- 
pathy with  her  bereaved  husband,  in  terms  which  reflect 
more  honor  on  his  character  than  the  victories  acquued  by 
his  arms.  In  the  retrospect  of  life,  it  must  have  seemed  to 
Dr.  Judson  an  occasion  of  gratitude  to  God  that  the  British 
power,  wliich  had  driven  him  from  India,  was  now  wielded 
by  one  who  was  disposed  to  throw  around  him  its  protecting 
shield. 

After  the  restoration  of  peace.  Dr.  Price  returned  to  Ava. 
He  was  favorably  received  as  a  physician,  and  became,  also, 
the  tutor  of  several  youths  belonging  to  royal  and  to  noble 
families.  His  hopes  were  sanguine  as  to  his  future  useful- 
ness, but  in  the  year  1828  he  died  of  pulmonary  consumption. 
Of  him  no  memoir  has  been  published,  and  the  entire  de- 
struction of  his  papers  during  the  Burmese  war  has  rendered 
it  difficult  to  supply  the  deficiency.  To  the  mission  liis  loss  was 
irreparable.  He  was  a  man  of  extensive  attainments  and  of 
remarkably  fine  address.  At  Ava  he  engaged  the  confidence 
of  the  Court,  and  of  him,  in  connection  with  Dr.  Judson,  it 
was  attested  by  Mr.  Crawfurd,  the  Enghsh  Envoy,  that  "  it 
was  in  a  great  measure  through  their  influence,  in  surmount- 
ing the  unspeakable  distrust,  jealousy,  and  it  may  be  added, 
incapacity  of  the  Burman  chiefs,  that  the  peace  was  ulti- 
mately brought  about."  * 

During  several  succeeding  years  Dr.  Judson  was  busily 
engaged  at  Amherst  and  Maulmain  in  the  work  of  transla- 
tion, in  the  revision  of  the  Burman  Scriptures,  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  a  Burman-English  dictionary,  and  in  public  teaching 
at  the  zayat.  At  this  time,  when  Burmah  proper  was  closed 
against  him,  a  new  field  of  missionary  influence  was  unex- 

*  Crawfurd's  Embassy,  Vol.  1,  p.  160. 


ADONIRAMJUDSON,     D.     D.  21 

pectedly  opened  to  his  view.  Early  in  the  year  1828  the 
church  at  Maulmain  received  Moung  Thah-byu  as  a  candidate 
for  baptism.  As  IVIr.  Boardman,  who  had  lately  joined  the 
mission,  was  about  to  establish  a  station  at  Tavoy,  an  old 
Burman  town  on  the  Tavoy  river,  containing  a  population 
of  about  nine  thousand,  he  took  this  young  convert  with  him, 
and  baptized  him  there.  Although  the  name  of  this  man 
sounds  to  our  ears  like  the  name  of  a  Burman,  yet  he  was 
of  another  race  —  the  Karens  —  a  people  as  nomadic  as  the 
Arabs  in  their  habits,"  scattered  abroad  through  the  rural 
districts,  the  mountains  and  the  jungles  of  Burmah  and  Siam. 
Their  condition  is  singular.  They  have  no  written  language, 
no  priests,  no  temples,  no  ritual,  and  although  some  of  them 
are  Boodhists,  the  gi'eat  majority  of  them  believe  in  the 
existence  of  an  Eternal  God,  sing  hymns  to  liis  praise,  and 
in  the  scale  of  moral  virtues  are  superior  to  the  heathen 
around  them.  According  to  the  testimony  of  INIr.  Mason, 
who  has  thoroughly  mastered  all  that  may  be  known  of  their 
history,  they  have  been  long  walking  after  the  traditions  of 
their  fathers,  which  had  nourished  in  then*  breasts  the  expecta- 
tion that  teachers  would  come  from  afar  to  instruct  them  in 
the  true  religion.  The  hopes  of  the  church  in  Maulmain, 
that  the  convert  whom  they  had  received  to  their  fellowship 
would  be  among  the  first  fruits  of  a  spiritual  harvest  gathered 
from  the  Karens,  have  been  amply  realized.  They  seem  to 
have  been  "  a  people  made  ready  for  the  Messiah."  The 
annals  of  modern  missions  exhibit  no  instance  of  a  more 
rapid  and  amazing  triumph  of  the  gospel ;  for  it  is  with  a 
feeling  of  grateful  joy  that  we  record  the  fact,  that  Dr.  Judson 
lived  to  see  the  day  when  there  was  reason  to  believe  tliat 
eleven  thousand  Karens  had  embraced  the  faith  of  Clu-ist 
"  in  spirit  and  in  tnith." 

Eight  years  after  he  had  buried  the  wife  of  his  youth,  Dr. 
Judson  became  united  in  marriage  to  Mrs.  Sarah  Boardman, 
widow  of  the  Rev.  George  Dana  Boardman,  who  liad  f;dhMi 
by  the  hand  of  death  four  years  before,  while  in  the  prime 
of  manhood  and  in  the  midst  of  his  usefulness.     This  union 


22  LIFE     AND     CHARACTER     OF 


was  in  all  respects  a  happy  one.  The  qualities  of  her  mind 
and  heart,  her  thorough  education,  her  congenial  tastes,  her 
aptness  to  teach,  her  elegant  Burmese  scholarship,  the  strength 
of  her  domestic  affections,  and  withal,  her  love  to  the  mis- 
sionary work,  well  fitted  her  to  be  the  companion  and  the 
wife  of  one  whom  she  honored  as  "  first  among  the  best  of 
Christians  and  of  men."  In  the  discharge  of  daily  duties,  in 
the  endurance  of  trials,  in  literary  studies,  in  counsel  and  in 
action,  they  were  mutual  helpers,  and  for  a  series  of  years 
enjoyed  a  degree  of  happiness  far  beyond  what  their  peculiar 
circumstances  might  have  furnished  reason  to  anticipate. 
But  in  the  year  1845,  Mrs.  Judson's  health  became  impaired ; 
a  voyage  beyond  the  tropics  was  ordered  by  the  physicians, 
and  after  a  painful  deliberation,  her  husband  resolved  to 
accompany  her  to  her  native  land. 

They  had  not  been  long  at  sea  before  every  hope  of  her 
recovery  was  blasted,  and  he  recoiled  from  the  prospect 
before  him  of  committing  her  remains  to  an  ocean  grave. 
But  he  was  spared  that  trial.  Mrs.  Judson  died  while  the 
vessel  Avas  lying  at  the  Isle  of  St.  Helena,  where  a  large  circle 
of  Christian  friends  folbwed  her  to  the  tomb,  and  sought  in 
every  way  which  sympathy  could  suggest  to  soothe  the  heart 
of  the  bereaved  missionary. 

There  are  few,  if  any,  of  those  who  are  assembled  here 
who  do  not  remember  with  what  a  thrill  of  joy  the  arrival  of 
Dr.  Judson  in  this  city  was  welcomed.  On  the  15th  of 
October,  1845,  he  stepped  ashore,  and  at  once  the  intelligence 
flew  as  on  electric  wings.  His  friends  were  invited  to  meet 
him  at  the  Bowdoin  Square  Church  on  the  evening  of  the 
second  following  day,  and  that  large  edifice  was  crowded 
with  men  and  women  eager  to  behold  the  form  and  coun- 
tenance of  the  veteran  wamor  retm*ned  from  the  field  of 
his  conflicts.  A  scene  of  equal  interest  is  rarely  beheld 
more  than  once  in  any  man's  lifetime,  and  an  exact  parallel 
to  this  cannot  recur  wdthin  the  period  allotted  to  the  present 
generation. 

The  gi-ecting  which  Dr.  Judson  here  received  was  a  fair 


A  D  O  X  I  R  A  M     J  r  D  S  O  X  ,     D  .     D  .  23 

example  of  what  awaited  him  in  other  places ;  it  was  but 
the  first  touch  of  a  sympathetic  chord  whose  vibrations  were 
felt  throughout  the  whole  country.  Thousands  who  had 
been  born  since  he  had  left  his  native  land  hastened  to  grasp  his 
hand,  and  addressed  him  as  one  whose  name  had  always 
been  familiar  to  their  lips.  He  who  had  gone  forth  weeping, 
"  bearing  precious  seed,"  while  worldly  wisdom  pronounced 
his  errand  a  chimera,  and  predicted  that  his  mission  would 
be  a  failure,  had  now  returned,  amidst  universal  acclamations, 
with  the  laiuels  of  victory  upon  his  brow.  His  journey  was 
a  triumphal  march.  It  indicated  a  state  of  the  public  mind 
which  he  had  never  before  witnessed.  It  was  not  the 
response  of  a  great  people  to  a  benefactor  who  had  blessed 
theni^  but  it  was  a  spontaneous  tribute  of  honor  to  a  moral 
hero  who  had  given  up  his  life  to  bless  others ;  it  was  the 
gi-and  expression  of  a  public  sentiment  towards  the  cause  of 
Christian  Missions  which  he  himself  had  done  so  much  to 
create. 

During  Dr.  Judson's  stay  in  this  country,  he  evinced  a  fine 
susceptibility  of  deriving  enjoyment  from  everything  around 
him.  From  reminiscences  of  the  past,  from  scenes  of  nature, 
from  social  intercourse,  from  the  study  of  men,  manners, 
customs,  and  society,  he  drew  incentives  to  thought  and 
subjects  of  conversation.  His  power  of  observation  was 
quick  and  comprehensive,  and  nothing  seemed  to  be  too 
great  or  too  minute  to  minister  to  his  mental  activity  and 
his  happiness.  It  was  evident  to  those  who  were  favored 
with  the  opportunity  of  associating  with  him,  that  his  long 
delay  to  revisit  the  home  of  his  youth  had  not  arisen  from 
anything  like  coldness  or  stoicism  in  his  nature,  but  simply 
from  devotion  to  his  great  object.  Nothing  here,  however, 
could  wean  his  alTections  from  the  churciies  of  Bnrmali,  and 
he  soon  became  impatient  to  return  to  the  sphere  of  his  daily 
toils.  He  desired  to  make  every  visit,  every  event,  subservi- 
ent to  his  life-work.  While  sojourning  in  Pliiladelpliia,  he 
became  favorably  impressed  with  the  character  of  tiiat  gifted 
lady  whose  graceful  pen  he  wished  to  employ  in  writing  a 


91 


LIFE     AND     CIIARACTKR     OF 


memoir  of  his  lately  deceased  wife,  and  the  result  was  a 
proposal  of  marriage,  which,  on  her  part,  was  considerately 
accepted,  and  which,  as  the  course  of  events  has  shown, 
received  the  approbation  of  Heaven. 

After  Dr.  Judson's  return  to  Burmah,  he  resumed  the  labors 
which  had  been  interrupted  by  his  absence,  and  pursued  them 
during  the  three  following  years,  until  his  health  became  en- 
tirely broken  down.  A  change  of  climate  was  necessary,  and 
he  resolved  to  embark  for  the  island  of  Bom'bon.  It  was  im- 
practicable for  Mrs.  Judson  to  accompany  him,  and  to  her  the 
pang  of  parting  was  rendered  especially  painful  by  the  fear 
that  he  would  never  return.  The  native  Christians  of  Maul- 
main  were  all  opposed  to  his  departure,  expressing  the  gloomy 
presentiment  that  their  beloved  teacher  would  be  buried  in 
the  sea,  and  also  the  wish  that  his  grave  might  be  made 
where  they  could  visit  it.  In  those  fears  Dr.  Judson  did  not 
participate,  but  in  the  end  they  were  all  realized.  He 
regarded  himself  as  being  constitutionally  tenacious  of  life, 
and  longed  to  inhale  the  ocean  air,  believing  that  he  might 
yet  be  restored  to  complete  his  literary  tasks,  and  then  to 
devote  succeeding  years  to  the  ministration  of  the  gospel. 

But  God  had  otherwise  ordained.  The  pangs  of  disease, 
which  became  gradually  more  intense,  were  soon  revealed  in 
their  true  character  as  heralds  sent  from  Him  to  summon  a 
faithful  servant  from  his  toil  to  his  reward.  Thus  far  he  had 
been  borne  onward  triumphantly  through  a  long  and  arduous 
career ;  only  one  more  contest  now  remained,  only  one  more 
victory,  and  that  the  victory  over  Death.  For  this  he  was 
prepared.  In  anticipation  of  protracted  tortures  aggravated 
by  a  quick  nervous  sensibility,  he  could  pray,  like  his  Divine 
Master,  "  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me ;" 
still,  it  was  his  to  welcome  the  bitter  draught  with  the  smile 
of  resignation,  and  thus,  "although  he  were  a  son,  yet  learned 
he  obedience  by  the  things  he  suiFered." 

Soon  after  the  vessel  had  set  sail,  and  while  in  sight  of  the 
Tenasserim  coast,  there  was  a  relief  from  pain,  and  a  slight 
resuscitation  which  threw  a  gleam  of  light  over  the  prospect 


A  D  O  N  I  R  A  M     J  U  D  S  O  .\  ,     D  .     D  .  liD 

of  recovery.  But  this  was  only  like  a  calm  in  which,  some- 
times, the  devastating  storm  gathers  its  energies.  Racking 
pangs  followed  in  quick  succession.  To  ]\Ir.  Ranney,  his 
coadjutor  in  the  mission  and  his  faithful  companion  in  this 
trying  scene,  he  said  a  few  words  expressive  of  the  gi-atifica- 
tion  afforded  by  the  presence  of  a  Christian  brother.  INIr. 
Ranney  answered,  "  I  hope  you  feel  that  Christ  is  now  near, 
sustaining  you."  "  O,  yes,"  he  replied,  "  it  is  all  right  there. 
I  believe  that  he  gives  me  just  so  much  pain  and  suffering  as 
is  necessary  to  fit  me  to  die ;  to  make  me  submissive  to  his 
will."  After  this  expression  there  was  a  period  of  more  than 
forty  hours  replete  with  mortal  agonies.  It  was  followed  by 
a  placid  calm,  in  which,  without  a  sigh  or  sign  of  suffering, 
he  expired.  The  manner  of  his  death  was  in  keeping  with 
the  sublime  spirit  and  style  of  his  life,  and  sheds  a  lusti'e  over 
the  retrospect  of  his  whole  career, — just  as  the  setting  sun 
(lings  back  his  splendors  over  the  eastern  sky,  gilding  every 
cloud  and  mountain  height  of  the  broad  landscape  with  a 
mild,  celestial  glory. 

Fathers  and  brethren,  you  will  doubtless  unite  with  me  in 
the  expression  of  the  sentiment,  that  in  the  review  of  our 
course  on  earth,  it  will  appear  to  us  an  inestimable  privi- 
lege to  have  been  permitted  to  live  in  the  same  age  with  such 
a  man  as  Adonirara  Judson,  to  have  been  co-workers  in 
an  enterprise  so  worthy  to  fill  a  mind  and  heart  like  his, 
lo  have  been  called  to  commemorate  a  life  so  fruitful  in 
immortal  deeds,  and  to  contemplate  a  character  so  rich  in  tlic 
elements  of  moral  greatness.  Sensible,  as  I  am,  how  in- 
adequate must  be  any  effort  of  mine  to  portray  that  character 
in  few  words,  so  as  to  realize  your  own  conceptions  of  what 
he  was,  yet  I  am  impelled  to  undertake  it,  because  ihe  occa- 
sion demands  of  us  such  a  tribute  to  his  memory  as  it  may 
h(*  ill  our  ])o\ver  to  offer,  because  from  the  abundance  of  the 
heart  liie  mouth  will  speak  in  spite  of  conscious  weakness, 
and  because  it  becomes  us  to  hold  up  to  the  view  of  all  so 
bright  an  example  of  llic  graces  which  dignify  our  nature, 
of  the    heroism   wiiich    ivwv.   religion   insjiires,   of  the   moral 


26  L  I  r  E     A  .\  D     CHARACTER     OF 

grandeur  with  which  an   enlightened  faith  invests  our  poor 
fallen  humanity. 

To  a  philosophical  and  an  observing  mind  there  is  much 
that  is  interesting  in  the  study  of  human  character,  under 
whatever  phase  or  form  it  may  appear,  whether  in  the  bad 
or  the  good,  in  the  pirate  or  the  saint,  in  the  monarch  or  the 
beggar ;  just  as  in  the  realm  of  natural  history  the  inquiring 
eye  will  find  a  lesson  in  the  structure  of  an  elephant  or  a 
worm,  in  the  life  and  habits  of  the  eagle  that  soars  toward 
the  sun,  or  of  the  insect  that  lies  couched  in  the  bosom  of  a 
flower.    But  then,  in  looking  over  the  wide  domain  of  human 
history,  the  boundless  landscape  embracing  myriads  of  active 
beings  like  ourselves,  it  is  only  here  and  there,  at  distant 
intervals,  that  we  see  looming  up  to  view  a  character  of 
marked  individuality  which  forcibly  arrests  our  attention,  con- 
centrates our  thoughts  upon  itself,  challenges  our  homage  or 
our  hate,  and  by  its  great  achievements  kindles  within  us  an 
eager  curiosity  to  search  out  the  secret  of  its  movement,  to 
explore  the  interior  springs  wherein  its   strength   has    lain. 
Prophets,  apostles,  martyrs,  lawgivers,    reformers,  projectors, 
discoverers,  and  successful  leaders  in  the  path  of  enterprise, 
constitute  a  class  of  heroic  men  whom  nations  delight  to 
honor ;  and  if  all  of  these  who  have  appeared  in  the  course  of 
ages  w^ere  gathered  into  a  single  company,  they  would  seem 
but  as  a  diminutive  group  compared  with  the  teeming  popu- 
lations of  the  globe.     Each  one  of  them  who  serves  his  race 
faithfully  finds  his  place  of  eminence,  not  by  courting  fame, 
but  by  doing  his  own  life-work  in  that  spirit  of  self-forgetful- 
ness  which  is  essential  to  true  humility ;   and  then,  when 
he  is  seen  to  have  coped  with  appalling  difficulties,  to  have 
trampled  down   great  temptations,  to   have   baffled  mighty 
adversaries,  and  to  have  accom})lished  what  sages  pronounced 
to  be  impossible,  the  power  of  his  character  is  felt  universally, 
and  his  example  rises  like  a  star  in  the  moral  firmament  to 
shed  its  radiance  on  the  path  of  succeeding  generations. 

Now,  in  looking  back  upon  the  course  of  the  half-century 
which  has  just  been  completed,  our  eyes  rest  on  Dr.  Judson 


A  D  O  N  I  R  A  M     J  U  D  S  O  X  ,     D  .     D  .  27 

as  a  distinguished  character ;  and  he  first  draws  our  attention 
while  in  the  prime  of  life,  as  a  Christian  philanthropist  rising 
superior  to  the  prevailing  spirit  of  his  times,  to  the  opinions 
both  of  the  church  and  tlie  world  around  him,  proposing  to 
himself  an  object  which  but  few  could  then  appreciate,  and 
pursuing  it  with  a  steadiness  of  purpose  commensurate  with 
its  dignity.  Scarcely  had  he  received  Christianity  as  a  divine 
revelation  ere  he  saw  that  Christ  had  committed  the  evan- 
gelization of  the  heathen  world  as  a  sacred  trust  to  his 
disciples ;  and  no  sooner  had  he  admitted  this  conviction 
than  he  hastened  to  realize  it  in  action.  The  recorded  words 
of  Christ's  last  commission  swayed  his  decisions  as  effect- 
ually as  if  he  had  stood  with  the  Eleven  on  Mount  Olivet, 
as  if  he  had  heard  them  pronounced  with  the  voice  of 
authority,  and  had  fallen  prostrate  in  worship  at  the  feet  of 
the  heavenly  majesty.  Had  he,  like  John  at  Patmos,  been 
visited  by  an  angel  directly  from  the  skies,  flashing  celestial 
splendors  around  him,  and  repeating  the  -s^Titten  mandate  as 
with  the  trump  of  God,  he  could  not  have  felt  more  strongly 
the  obligations  that  rested  upon  him,  he  could  not  have 
obeyed  with  more  alacrity,  nor  moved  forward  in  his  rugged 
pathway  with  a  step  more  unfaltering. 

It  is  not  wonderful,  therefore,  that  to  the  eye  of  a  distant 
observer  he  should  have  appeared  simply  as  a  "  man  of 
faith,"  pressing  forward  in  his  adventurous  race  of  life  under 
the  impelling  power  of  that  one  mighty  principle.  But  a 
clearer  view  of  his  history,  a  comparison  of  one  part  with 
another,  will  make  it  evident  that  he  was  distinguished  not 
so  much  by  the  simplicity  and  strength  of  his  faith,  although 
that  faith  acted  with  an  intensity  which  kindled  his  affections 
into  a  glow  of  enthusiasm,  and  subordinated  all  the  passions 
of  his  nature  to  itself,  as  by  the  combination  of  his  faith  with 
a  cool  practical  judgment,  whidi  qualified  him  wisely  to 
select  the  means  adapted  to  his  chosen  ends  ;  and  also,  by 
the  union  of  that  faculty  of  judgment  to  a  strong  executive 
will,  which  enabled  him  to  carry  out  his  far-reaching  plans 
to  their  issues,  with  a  determination  that  no  obstacles  could 


28  L  I  F  E     A  N  D     C  }1  A  R  A  C  T  E  R     O  V 

daunt,  with  a  patience  that  no  disappointment  could  exhaust. 
As  it  has  been  justly  said  of  Napoleon,  that  he  united  in  him- 
self the  calm,  calculating  power  that  belongs  to  the  Northern 
temperament  with  the  enthusiastic  ardor  and  fervid  imagina- 
tion that  belong  to  the  Southern,  so  that  his  style  of  action 
was  in  keeping  with  the  grandem-  of  his  conceptions,  it  may 
be  said  with  equal  ti'uth  of  our  venerated  leader  in  the 
missionary  warfare,  that  he  combined  the  enthusiasm  of  faith 
with  such  a  clear,  serene  judgment,  and  with  such  a  manly 
energy  of  will,  as  fitted  him  to  gi-apple  with  seeming 
impossibilities,  to  "  speak  of  things  which  were  not  as 
though  they  were,"  and  to  bring  to  an  undertaking  which 
required  for  its  success  the  interpositions  of  Omnipotence  the 
same  apt  and  careful  forethought  as  would  befit  the  cabinet 
of  the  statesman,  the  camp  of  the  warrior,  or  any  arduous 
work  that  lay  within  the  scope  of  human  enterprise. 

Wherever  these  interior  elements  of  character  become 
subordinate  to  some  one  grand  conception,  they  always  pro- 
duce that  degree  of  perseverance  amidst  difficulties,  which, 
in  the  retrospect  of  a  long  series  of  actions,  gives  an  im- 
pression of  dramatic  unity  to  the  life,  and  awakens  in  us  the 
emotion  of  sublimity.  In  every  age  the  epic  muse  has  found 
her  choicest  themes  in  the  struggles  of  the  good  and  brave 
who  have  pursued  some  noble  aim  against  adverse  fortunes, 
and  have 

"  plucked  success 


Ev'n  from  the  siiear-proof  crest  of  rugged  danger." 

When  we  pore  over  the  story  of  Christopher  Columbus, 
who,  in  his  early  solitary  musings,  vividly  conceived  of  this 
new  world  as  lying  beyond  unknown  seas,  and  resolved  to 
seek  it,  that  he  might  rear  upon  it  the  banner  of  the  cross, 
how  deeply  are  om*  hearts  stirred  within  us  while  we  see  the 
constancy  with  which  he  "  watched  thereunto  with  all  perse- 
verance ; "  how  he  met  the  objections  of  titled  ignorance  ; 
how  he  bore  ridicule ;  how  he  rendered  misfortune  subser- 
vient to  his  work ;  how  he  sustained  the  rebukes  of  priestly 


A  D  O  N  I  R  A  M     J  U  D  S  O  X  ,     D  .     D  .  29 

pride  and  com'tly  arrogance  ;  how  he  sought  aid  from  princes 
and  welcomed  the  sympathy  of  the  poor ;  how  he  prayed  for 
help  from  on  high  and  cast  himself  on  the  care  of  Providence 
as  he  steered  his  bark  through  many  a  tedious  vigil  of  the 
night  across  the  boisterous  deep !  He  appeared  like  other 
men  in  scenes  of  business,  in  conversation,  and  in  action,  but 
his  one  great  object  was  ever  present  to  his  thoughts,  and  in 
spite  of  neglect,  of  disappointment,  of  ingratitude,  in  spite 
of  opposing  storms  and  threatening  death,  he  persevered  and 
conquered.  His  eyes  beheld  the  promised  land,  and  his  great 
mission  for  manldnd  was  accomplished.  Not  less  worthy  of 
admiration  for  his  dauntless  perseverance  is  he  who  left  the 
home  of  his  youth  to  plant  the  standard  of  the  cross  in  the 
sti'onghold  of  Gaudama ;  who  formed  his  plans  in  the  soli- 
tude of  his  closet ;  who  derived  but  little  aid  from  the  coun- 
sels of  experienced  age ;  who  felt  no  genial  sympathy  of 
public  sentiment  quickening  the  pulsations  of  his  heart ;  but 
who,  like  another  Columbus,  went  forth  in  the  night  of 
adversity,  guided  only  by  the  lights  of  Heaven,  and  shaping 
his  course  by  those  eternal  truths  which  God  had  set  as  stars 
in  the  firmament  of  revelation  to  tlu-ow  their  gleams  along  a 
pathless  waste. 

And  here  it  becomes  us  to  acknowledge  with  devout  grati- 
tude his  habitual  reverence  for  the  authority  of  God's  word; 
the  great  controlling  power  which  was  exerted  over  a  mind 
of  such  mighty  energies,  by  its  clear  apprehension  of  the 
momentous  principle  that  the  Bible  alone  is  the  supreme 
and  sufficient  rule  of  faith  for  all  in  matters  of  religion.  For, 
that  religious  sentiment  which  is  an  essential  element  of 
human  nature,  when  it  predominates  in  a  man  of  strong 
character,  becomes  an  impulsive  force  that  works  out  im- 
mense results  of  good  or  evil,  according  to  the  direction 
which  it  takes;  and,  unless  it  be  enlightened  and  guided  by 
the  oracles  of  God,  is  likely  to  render  any  one  who  po.<sesses 
more  than  ordinary  intellect  and  passion  a  prodigy  of  super- 
stition or  fanaticism.  Its  etlects  are  varied  by  the  opinions 
and  spirit  of  the  times ;  in  one  age  it  produces  monasticism, 


30  MFE     AND     CHARACTER     OP 

in  another  crusades,  in  another  inquisitions ;  now  it  forms  its 
votary  into  a  Simon  Stylites  earning  heayen  by  penance  and 
beggary,  now  into  a  Peter  the  Hermit  summoning  the  faith- 
ful unto  battle,  and  now  again  into  a  Torquemada  purging 
the  earth  from  heresy  by  fire  and  blood.  In  studying  the 
lives  of  men,  we  are  often  astonished  to  see  how  an  obscure 
event  becomes  a  crisis  of  history.  The  flight  of  a  bird  from 
the  mouth  of  a  cave,  saving  Mahomet  from  the  sword  of  his 
enemies,  affected  the  destiny  of  millions  ;  and  but  for  the 
seemingly  accidental  conversations  of  Loyola  at  Paris,  the 
renowned  Xavier  would  probably  have  yielded  to  the  power 
of  Luther's  influence,  and  have  become  a  champion  of  the 
Protestant  faith.  Who  can  tell  how  different  from  what  it 
was  would  have  been  the  earthly  career  of  Dr.  Judson,  how 
different  the  color  and  complexion  of  his  character,  had  he 
not  been  led  in  the  very  prime  of  his  manhood  to  form  just 
conceptions  of  the  religion  revealed  in  the  New  Testament, 
to  yield  his  whole  soul  to  its  supreme  authority,  and  to  cling 
with  all  the  affections  of  his  ardent  nature  to  "  the  simplicity 
that  is  in  Christ  ?  "  A  soul  like  his,  touched  with  a  spark  of 
som3"  strange  fire,"  and  inflamed  with  zeal  for  some  false 
system,  might  have  become  another  St.  Francis  founding  a 
new  order  of  ascetics,  or  another  Loyola  training  a  new 
school  of  courtly  propagandists,  or  another  Xavier  traversing 
India  with  a  lofty  martyr-spirit  to  preach  the  crucifix  rather 
than  the  cross,  to  convert  nations  by  sacraments  rather  than 
the  gospel.  But  we  have  reason,  on  this  occasion,  to  bless  the 
Father  of  lights  for  the  grace  bestowed  on  his  servant,  that  in 
the  day  of  doubt  and  inquiry,  when  he  was  feeling  after  truth, 
if  haply  he  might  find  it,  the  word  of  inspiration  was  made 
known  to  him  as  a  divine  counsellor,  the  oracle  of  his  faith, 
the  conservative  and  guiding  rule  of  his  conduct;  that  he 
"rejoiced  in  its  testimonies  more  than  in  all  riches,"  and 
that  he  counted  nothing  dear  to  him,  so  that  he  might  give 
to  pagan  millions  those  recorded  messages  which  are  as 
leaves  from  the  tree  of  life  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
If,  in  a  coming  age,  some  Allston  should  wish  to  employ  his 


A  D  O  \  I  R  A  M     J  I   D  S  O  X  ,     D  .     D  .  31 

pencil  in  picturing  forth  a  single  action  that  should  express 
at  once  the  gi-eat  aim,  the  chosen  means,  and  the  true  spirit 
of  the  modern  missionary  enterprise,  he  could  scarcely  select 
a  more  fitting  scene  than  that  which  Heaven  witnessed  with 
a  smile,  when  Adonham  Judson  was  seen  kneeling  by  the 
side  of  that  table  over  which  he  had  long  bent  his  frame  in 
studious  application,  holding  in  his  hand  the  last  leaf  of  the 
Burman  Bible,  with  his  eyes  uplifted,  and  with  a  counte- 
nance radiant  with  joy,  thanking  God  that  his  life  had  been 
spared  to  achieve  this  work,  and  imploring  the  Divine  Spirit 
to  make  the  silent  page  a  messenger  of  life  to  many. 

The  leading  features  of  Dr.  Judson's  character,  when  we 
regard  him  as  a  public  man,  have  an  aspect  of  such  stern  and 
simple  gi-andeur  that  they  throw  into  the  shade  those  delicate 
traits  which  disclosed  themselves  to  the  eyes  of  all  who  knew 
him  in  social  and  domestic  life.     Indeed,  the  higher  qualities 
of  which  we  have  spoken  are  rarely  found  in  intimate  union 
^^^th  the  gentler  vhtues,  with  that  childlike  tenderness,  that 
genial   sympathy,   that   nice   regard   to   the    sensibilities   of 
others,  which  throw  a  charm  around  the  scenes  of  home  and 
the  circles  of  friendship.     We  are   never  sm'priscd  to  learn 
that  these  are  utterly  wanting  in  men  of  u-on  sinew,  formed 
for  daring  and  endurance.     Just  as  when  we  have  gazed  on 
some  lofty  mountain  that  towers  sublimely  to  the  sides,  it 
seems  not  strange,  if,  on  a  close  survey,  the  fine  proportions 
and  the  beauty  of  outline  shall  have  vanished,  so  that  we  can 
touch  nothing  but  rugged  rocks  and  tangled  thickets.    But  to 
find  the  ascent  of  an  Alpine  height  enriched  with  fruits  and 
flowers,  with  sheltering  vines,  refreshing  springs,  and  singing 
birds,  must  fill  the  breast  of  every  beholder  with  a  sentiment 
of  pleasing  wonder.     A  kindred  emotion  has,  doubtless,  been 
awakened  in  the  hearts  of   many  who  have    long  contem- 
plated  Dr.  Judson   from   a   distant   point  of  view,  and  have 
afterward  been  favored  with  oi)portuiii(ies  of  personal  int(M-- 
course.      Then   it   has   been   seen  that    i\\c   clcincnts  ot'   his 
nature  were   admirably   balanced,  tiiat    his   social   allcctions 
were   commensurate  with   his   intellectual   powers,  and  that 


32  LIFE     AND     CHARACTER     OF 

his  many-sided  mind  filled  a  wide  sphere  of  being.  Of  him 
it  conld  not  be  justly  said,  as  it  once  was  of  an  eminent 
moral  philosopher,  that  he  loved  man  in  general,  but  no 
human  being  in  particular ;  nay,  his  heart  was  a  well-spring 
of  tender  affections,  his  eye  took  within  its  scope  the  whole 
Avide  range  of  human  relationships,  and  he  was  sensitively 
alive  to  the  happiness  of  all  around  him.  In  this  respect  he 
resembled  his  Divine  Master,  who,  whilst  on  earth,  although 
he  was  employed  in  a  mission  that  involved  the  eternal  des- 
tinies of  a  fallen  race,  could  find  congenial  joys  in  the  friend- 
ship of  Martha,  Mary,  and  Lazarus,  and  who,  amidst  the 
agonies  of  the  cross,  could  commend  the  temporal  welfare  of 
his  mother  to  "  that  disciple  whom  he  loved." 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  proper  to  observe  that  in 
regard  to  the  social  qualities  of  Dr.  Judson,  his  susceptibility 
of  the  pleasures  of  friendship,  his  powers  of  conversation,  his 
combination  of  mental  energy  with  the  most  winning  gentle- 
ness of  expression,  many  of  us  received  impressions,  during 
his  sojom-n  in  this  country,  which  could  have  been  imparted 
by  no  study  of  his  history,  by  no  sketch,  however  vivid  and 
graphical.  Whensoever  we  see  a  man  who  is  distinguished 
for  singleness  of  aim,  we  are  often  struck  with  a  certain 
eloquence  of  manners  which  cannot  be  described,  and  which, 
wdien  found  to  be  in  keeping  with  the  tenor  of  his  life,  dis- 
closes the  heart  more  ti'uthfuUy  than  the  best  efforts  of  the 
pencil  or  the  pen.  The  Evangelist  Luke  seems  to  aUude  to 
the  impression  of  character  made  by  the  personal  appearance 
of  our  Lord,  in  a  single  phrase  Avhich  Dr.  Campbell  has 
translated,  "  he  was  adorned  with  a  divine  gracefulness." 
The  soul  reveals  itself  not  only  in  words,  but  in  the  tones  of 
the  voice,  in  the  animated  countenance,  in  the  kindling  eye, 
in  every  feature,  in  every  movement.  Although  it  may  not  be 
safe  to  judge  of  men  by  the  outward  appearance  merely,  yet 
there  are  signs  of  character  which  are  seldom  mistaken,  which 
no  art  can  counterfeit,  and  which  make  impressions  that  we 
can  neither  resist  nor  erase.  And  no  one,  probably,  has  been 
permitted  to  enjoy  Dr.  Judson's   society,  and  especially  to 


A  D  O  N  I  R  A  M     J  U  D  S  O  N  ,     D  .     ])  .  33 

kneel  with  him  while  conducting  the  worship  of  a  family, 
who  has  not  left  his  presence  with  some  new  conviction 
of  the  depth  of  his  piety,  of  the  breadth  of  his  philanthropy, 
of  his  childlike  humility  as  a  Christian,  and  of  his  real  great- 
ness as  a  man. 

Nor  can  we  omit  to  notice,  while  we  consider  the  variety 
of  situations  in  which  om'  departed  missionary  was  placed, 
the  versatilitjj  of  his  talents,  which  enabled  him  to  be  at  ease 
and  at  home  in  every  position  which  he  was  called  to  occupy. 
Every  one  who  has  considered  the  subject  is  well  aware  that 
the  qualifications  requisite  for  a  translator  of  the  Scriptures 
into  a  foreign  language  embrace  a  wide  sphere  of  acquisi- 
tions. As  a  scholar  and  a  critic.  Dr.  Judson  did  not  allow 
himself  to  fall  behind  the  advancing  spirit  of  his  times ;  and, 
if  we  may  credit  the  testimony  of  IVIi*.  Crawfurd,  the  English 
Envoy  to  the  Court  of  Ava,  Avho  had  ample  means  of  judg- 
ing, he  had  no  superior  in  the  Empire  as  a  thorough  master 
of  the  Burman  language  and  literature.  At  the  same  time, 
his  knowledge  of  the  world,  of  men  and  things  around  him, 
his  wide  scope  of  thought,  and  his  powers  of  communication, 
gave  a  particular  value  to  all  his  opinions  on  matters  of  secu- 
lar interest,  and  commanded  the  respect  of  the  most  distin- 
guished men  with  whom  he  was  led  to  associate  in  private 
and  in  public  life. 

Notwithstanding  repeated  attacks  of  disease,  it  was  his 
cherished  hope,  as  it  was  also  that  of  his  friends,  that  his 
days  would  have  been  prolonged,  that  he  would  have  been 
permitted  to  finish  the  works  which  had  long  tasked  his  pen, 
and  give  himself  to  the  ministry  of  the  word  without  inter- 
ruption. Whensoever  we  iiave  thought  of  his  ripe  experi- 
ence, his  familiarity  with  the  language,  customs,  and  mental 
habitudes  of  the  Burman  people,  we  had  fondly  imagined 
with  what  zeal  and  ellect  he  would  consecrate  his  advancing 
age  to  the  work  of  oral  teaching.  But  this  pleasing  picture, 
which  glowed  before  the  imagination  in  such  lively  colors, 
has  been  suddenly  marred.  In  the  sight  of  God  iiis  work 
was  done,  ond  he  was  called  to  his  rest.     Yet,  so  intent  was 


34  LIFE     AND     CHARACTER     OF 

his  soul  upon  that  work,  that  the  voice  of  the  summons  which 
bade  him  away  fell  upon  the  ears  of  anxious  friends  sooner 
than  upon  his  own.  But  when  it  was  heard  by  him,  how 
cordially  was  it  welcomed !  He  was  ready.  To  him,  death 
came  not  as  the  "  king  of  teiTors,"  but  as  a  commissioned 
servant  to  conduct  him  home.  He  has  fought  a  good  fight, 
he  has  finished  his  course,  he  has  kept  the  faith,  he  has  died 
in  triumph.  The  veteran  soldier  sleeps  in  his  chosen  sepulchre. 
They  laid  him  in  the  ocean-bed  where  none  can  break  his 
repose.  They  could  write  no  epitaph,  they  could  raise  no 
memorial,  but  they 

"left  him  alone  in  his  glory," 

where  the  winds  shall  moan  his  requiem  until  the  last  trump 
shall  sound,  and  the  sea  shall  yield  up  its  treasured  trusts. 

And  now,  fathers  and  brethren,  while  we  commemorate 
the  life  and  character  of  our  venerated  missionary,  let  us 
open  our  hearts  to  the  lessons  suggested  by  this  occasion ; 
and  especially  let  it  be  ours  to  apprehend  more  vividly  the 
NATURE  OF  THAT  MORAL  HEROISM  wMch  lie  SO  iiobly  exem- 
plified, and  which  befits  the  period  in  which  we  live.  In  the 
classic  ages  of  the  past,  the  epithet  heroic  was  applied  only 
to  those  who  achieved  deeds  of  martial  valor.  The  verse  of 
Milton  has  well  expressed  that  truth  : 

"  Conquerors  who  leave  behind 
Nothing  but  ruin  wheresoe'cr  they  rove, 
And  all  the  flourishing  works  of  peace  destroy. 
Then  swell  with  pride,  and  must  be  titled  gods, 
Great  benefactors  of  mankind,  deliverers, 
Worshipped  with  temple,  priest,  and  sacrifice." 

The  usages  of  language  illustrate  mental  history,  and  the 
application  of  the  idea  of  heroism  to  grand  projects  of  benev- 
olence, to  the  champions  and  martyrs  of  Truth,  designates 
the  era  of  Christianity.  The  thought  gleamed  on  the  mind 
of  Napoleon  amidst  the  reflections  of  his  exile,  and  was 
uttered  in  those  weighty  sentences  which  he  addressed  to 
the  Count  de  Montholon  while  at  St.  Helena.     "  The  religion 


A  D  O  N  I  R  A  M     J  U  D  S  O  N  ,     D  .     D  .  35 

of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  mystery  which  subsists  by  its  own  force, 
and  proceeds  from  a  mind  which  is  not  a  human  mind.  We 
find  in  it  a  marked  individuality,  which  originated  a  train  of 
words  and  actions  unknown  before.  Jesus  is  not  a  philoso- 
pher, for  his  proofs  are  miracles,  and  from  the  first  his  disciples 
adored  him.  Alexander,  Ca3sar,  Charlemagne,  and  myself, 
founded  empires ;  but  on  what  foundation  did  we  rest  the 
creations  of  our  genius  ?  Upon  force.  Jesus  Christ  founded 
an  empire  upon  love,  and  at  this  hour  millions  of  men  would 
die  for  him !  I  die  before  my  time,  and  my  body  will  be 
given  back  to  the  earth,  to  become  food  for  worms.  Such  is 
the  fate  of  him  who  has  been  called  the  great  Napoleon. 
What  an  abyss  between  my  deep  mystery  and  the  eternal 
kingdom  of  Christ,  which  is  proclaimed,  loved,  and  adored, 
and  is  extending  over  the  whole  earth !"  Wonderful  words 
to  be  spoken  by  those  imperial  lips !  They  reveal  the  truth 
of  things  as  it  must  appear  in  the  light  of  eternal  realities. 
Is  it  not  possible,  think  you,  that  the  martial  hero  who  uttered 
them  may  have  wished,  as  he  awoke  to  a  calm  retrospective 
view  of  his  course,  that  he  had  acted  a  more  Christian  part 
in  the  great  drama  of  life,  and  that  other  words  than  these 
had  sounded  the  key-note  of  his  moral  history  ?  Whatever 
may  have  been  his  secret  wish,  we  welcome  his  testimony  as 
a  tribute  of  honor  to  the  enterprise  which  unites  our  hearts, 
to  the  heroism  which  true  philanthropy  inspires,  and  to  the 
character  of  a  man  like  him  whose  aims  and  deeds  we  here 
devoutly  celebrate. 

Yet,  let  us  remember  that  it  belongs  not  to  the  Missionary 
alone  to  cherish  and  develop  this  heroic  spirit  in  some 
distant  land  or  some  conspicuous  sphere.  In  the  early  ages 
it  gave  a  lofty  tone  to  whole  communities  of  Christians ;  it 
was  breathed  forth  in  their  social  intercourse,  in  tlieir  daily 
pursuits,  in  their  style  of  life  and  conduct.  But  in  our  time 
Ihe  genius  of  enterprise,  even  among  "the  sons  of  the 
church,"  needs  a  new  baptism  from  on  high.  Their  hardy 
courage,  their  spirit  of  adventure  and  of  self-denial,  must 
be  hallowed  by  a  loftier  aim.     In  the  pursuit  of  ix'rishable 


36  L  I  F  E     A  N  D     C  II  A  R  A  C  T  E  R     OF 

wealth  they  put  forth  mighty  efforts  which  would  take  on  an 
aspect  of  heroism,  if  they  were  subordinated  to  a  worthy 
moral  object.  For  the  sake  of  gain  they  are  willing  to 
become  exiles  from  home,  to  undertake  the  most  arduous 
pilgrimages,  to  brave  the  perils  of  the  stormy  deep  or  gloomy 
desert,  to  dare  the  blasts  which  sweep  over  the  icy  solitudes 
of  the  North,  if  they  may  but  rob  wild  beasts  of  their  costly 
furs,  or  risk  life  amidst  the  naalaria  of  Africa  if  they  may 
but  pick  up  gold  dust  from  her  bui'ning  sands.  In  the 
pursuit  of  wealth  the  mind  emboldens  itself  to  meet  the 
march  of  pestilence,  and  infection  seems  to  have  been  dis- 
armed of  its  terrors.  For  this  end  families,  too,  are  broken 
up  and  scattered  over  the  earth  ;  one  makes  his  home  on  the 
ocean,  another  in  Lidia,  another  in  the  mines  of  California, 
and  a  fourth  seeks  his  fortune  in  the  new  ports  of  the  Pacific. 
With  "what  inflexible  will  do  they  \ATestle  with  difficulty, 
with  disease,  with  the  pains  of  absence,  with  bitter  disap- 
pointments !  and  O,  hoAV  elevated  and  ennobled  would  be 
the  elements  of  such  enduring  character  if  they  were  triffy 
consecrated  to  the  interests  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom,  and 
were  thus  made  subservient  to  the  real  progress  of  humanity  I 
And  surely,  in  these  latter  days,  while  "  the  signs  of  the 
times"  beckon  us  on  to  bolder  attempts  in  the  great  battle 
which  has  long  been  waged  with  the  powers  of  darkness, 
"  with  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places,"  now,  when 
mountains  fall  and  valleys  rise  before  the  march  of  Science, 
so  that  our  antipodes  become  our  neighbors — -now,  ^vhen 
America,  which  was  but  lately  at  the  very  "  ends  of  the 
earth,"  is  rising  up  to  be  a  great  central  power,  stretching 
forth  her  gigantic  arms  to  reach  the  continent  of  Asia  on  the 
one  side  and  the  continent  of  Europe  on  the  other,  the 
chief  want  of  the  times  is  a  manly,  generous,  Cliristian 
public  spirit,  which  shall  perform  heroic  deeds  amidst  the  stir 
and  din  of  secular  business,  and  aim  to  subordinate  the 
realms  of  Agriculture,  of  Commerce,  of  Ai-t,  of  Literatm*e, 
and  of  Labor,  to  the  grand  design  of  Christianity  in  the 
renovation  of  our  fallen  world. 


A  D  O  N  I  R  A  M     J  U  D  S  O  N  ,     D  .     D  .  37 

Last  of  all,  let  us  resolve,  with  a  firm  faith  in  the  prom- 
ised agency  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  to  carry  forward  the  work 
ivhich  has  been  so  ivell  begun  by  those  ivho  have  gone  before 
us.  Let  it  be  om-  prayer,  that  the  mantles  of  the  ascending 
prophets  may  fall  on  worthy  successors,  until  that  favored 
generation  come  who  shall  celebrate  the  universal  triumph  of 
the  Redeemer. 

It  is  deserving  of  remark  that,  after  a  long  lapse  of  ages, 
it  has  devolved  on  the  men  of  the  last  century  to  push  for- 
ward the  conquests  of  the  cross  among  the  older  nations  of 
the  world,  beyond  those  eastern  lands  which  had  bounded 
the  progress  of  Christianity  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles. 
Wonderful  as  were  the  victories  of  our  religion  in  the  first 
century,  they  scarcely  reached  beyond  the  dominion  of  the 
Caesars,  which  was  then  called  "  the  whole  world."  Yet 
far  beyond  it,  stretching  eastw^ard,  lay  the  older  Pagan 
countries  overspread  by  Boodhism  and  Brahminism ;  and 
these  were  left,  as  they  had  been  long  before,  from  time  im- 
memorial. Afterward,  when  Constantine  estabHshed  Chris- 
tianity as  the  religion  of  the  State,  it  became  a  territorial 
creed,  hemmed  in  by  the  boundaries  of  the  empire.  And 
thus  it  has,  in  a  great  degree,  remained,  until  the  missionary 
spirit  of  modern  times  took  up  the  work  nearly  at  the  point 
where  it  was  left  by  the  last  of  the  Apostles,  and  won  new 
trophies  in  those  old  domains  of  Boodh  and  Brahma. 

With  this  fact  in  view,  we  cannot  but  be  struck  with  an 
analogy  between  the  progress  of  science  and  Christianity.  It 
was  at  the  close  of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era  that 
the  Emperor  Trajan,  having  beaten  back  the  northern  barbari- 
ans beyond  the  Danube,  engaged  in  the  work  of  extending 
the  improvements  of  civilization  and  the  arts  of  peace  in 
those  dreary  regions.  Among  the  memorials  of  his  reign, 
travellers  have  beheld  with  admiration  the  remains  of  a  ship 
canal,  cut  through  the  solid  rock,  around  the  rapids  of  that 
noble  river.  But  at  the  death  of  Trajan  the  work  was  left 
unfinished,  and  for  seventeen  hundred  years  lias  remained  in 
that  condition.     The  empire  had  then  reached  its  culminat- 


38  ADONIRAM     JUDSON,     D.     D. 

ing  point ;  its  energies  were  spent ;  it  had  begun  to  decline 
and  fall,  and  it  had  no  power  or  resources  adequate  to  the 
completion  of  the  plans  which  Trajan  had  projected.  Be- 
neath the  tramp  of  barbarian  hordes  Roman  civilization  lay 
crushed  during  revolving  centuries,  and  the  chiselled  rocks 
bore  witness  of  a  fallen  empire  unable  to  finish  what  it  had 
begun.  But  under  the  auspices  of  Christianity,  art  and 
science  have  plumed  their  wings  anew,  to  go  forth  and 
repair  the  old  and  desolate  wastes.  Within  the  memory  of 
living  men,  an  impetus  has  been  given  to  the  world's  affau's 
by  means  of  which  the  enterprise  of  Trajan  has  lately  re- 
ceived its  finishing  stroke.  That  impulse  came  forth,  not 
from  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  but  of  the  Hudson ;  and 
the  invention  of  Robert  Fulton  has  achieved  the  significant 
result.  Thus,  too,  has  it  been  in  the  history  of  Christianity. 
The  men  of  our  own  times  have  been  called  to  set  their 
hands  to  the  work  of  God,  just  where  its  early  heralds 
left  it,  and  have  m-ged  forward  the  triumphs  of  our  reli- 
gion beyond  those  borders  which  marked  the  termination 
of  her  first  victorious  career.  The  new  impulse  has  pro- 
ceeded, not  from  Rome,  or  Constantinople,  but  from  London, 
from  New  York,  from  Boston,  and  from  the  chief  seats  of 
Christianized  Anglo-Saxon  power. 

Seeing,  then,  that  brightening  signs  indicate  an  accelerated 
progress  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom  —  that  the  voice  of  Prov- 
idence is  summoning  us  renewedly  to  be  co-workers  in  this 
glorious  cause — let  us  devoutly  aim  to  do  our  life-work 
faithfully,  to  follow  in  the  steps  of  those  "  who,  through  faith 
and  patience,  have  inherited  the  promises."  Let  it  be  ours 
to  bear  a  part  in  the  fulfilment  of  those  old  prophecies  which 
have  long  shed  hopeful  gleams  across  the  night  of  ages,  that 
thus  we  may  be  prepared  to  vmite  in  those  heavenly  anthems 
that  shall  celebrate  the  final  triumph  of  the  Redeemer,  unto 
whom  "  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be." 


MISSIONARY    ENTERPRISE. 


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